More native English teachers are breaching agreed working terms in contracts made with public schools and are leaving Korea.

According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the number of foreign teachers who failed to complete their working contracts last year rose to 425 from 283 a year ago. This year as well, 252 native English speakers have already left schools as of July, according to Rep. Kim Se-yeon of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) who asked the ministry to submit the statistics to the National Assembly.

Currently, education authorities recruit native English speakers overseas as assistant teachers on a one-year basis for English conversation classes.

The number of language assistant teachers at elementary and secondary schools increased to 8,473 this year from 7,631 in 2009 and 5,115 in 2008, meaning about 80 percent of schools nationwide have foreign teachers this year, a sharp surge compared with 48 percent in 2007.

Particularly, nearly 30 percent of the foreign teachers who ended their contract worked for less than six months. Some 22 percent of them quit to study or transferred to other jobs, while about 15 percent left without prior notice and others for various reasons including difficulties in adapting to their schools, illness, and being involved in crimes.

The dropout rate also varied according to regions Rep. Kim Sun-dong of the GNP said. Busan topped the list, followed by Incheon, Seoul and Jeju Island.

“Many Koreans have to get through very hard training if they want to be a teacher. It is a kind of privilege for native English speakers to be invited here as teachers. So I earnestly ask them to be more responsible in their jobs,” said Oh Seok-hwan, a director at the ministry.

“Also, we will strengthen the screening process in recruiting native English teachers,” he added.

Another problem raised by the lawmaker was that the majority of native English teachers lack teaching certificates. Less than 30 percent of them have teaching licenses from their home countries in some regions including Ulsan and North Gyeongsang Province.

The student-teacher ratio also saw wide gaps, ranging from 1,552 students per instructor in Daegu to 778 to 1 in Seoul.

“The government should map out recruitment plans on native English teachers more systematically in order to provide children with better English education environments,” said Rep. Kim said.